


'Tis the Season

by Lauralot



Series: Daddy Issues [7]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Alcohol, Christmas, Gen, Multiple Personalities, Separate bodies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-18
Updated: 2015-12-18
Packaged: 2018-05-07 11:56:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5455661
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lauralot/pseuds/Lauralot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Winter Soldier is determined to make Christmas perfect.</p>
            </blockquote>





	'Tis the Season

“ _Deck the halls with boughs of holly!_ ” Bucky sings, almost skipping to the kitchen. He’s dressed in what was once a pullover and is now an abomination of tinsel and glitter glue. James has spent the whole month in festive sweaters that Winter bought him, and yesterday he’d brought out his crafting supplies and insisted that Bucky have holiday clothing too. “ _Fa la la la la la la la la!_ ”

It’s way too early to sing this loud, but they’re only a few days away from James’s first Christmas as a real kid. Bucky intends to make it perfect.

“ _’Tis the season to be jo_ —”

James is sitting beside Steve at the kitchen table, wearing some Nordic sweater with little reindeer amid all the intricate designs. There’s a plate of gingerbread men in front of him. It would look like something straight out of a seasonal advertisement, except James is crying.

“Hey, bug.” Bucky rushes to his side, putting a hand on his shoulder. “What’s the matter?”

“Santa’s gonna hate my cookies!” James wails.

“What?”

“They’re ugly and he’s gonna hate me and never come back!” James buries his face against Bucky Bear, shoulders shaking. Bucky Bear is also wearing a Christmas sweater.

“James,” Steve says. He reaches over and picks the kid up, settling him in his lap. “Shhh, James. Santa is going to love your cookies, sweetheart. He gets all kinds of cookies from all over the world, and he appreciates all of them.”

“But how do we say thank you to Santa?” Winter appears in the doorway. He’s in some holiday-colored Fair Isle sweater of his own, his hair pulled back. There’s a sprig of fake holly clipped into it. “We don’t say it with blobby cookies with smeared icing.”

James sniffles, burying his face in Steve’s side. Winter’s gone as quickly as he arrived, before Bucky can yell at him. That’s probably for the best; it would only upset the kid more.

“Winter’s...very determined to make Christmas perfect,” Steve mutters, rocking James back and forth.

“It’s okay, James.” Bucky stands up, ruffling James’s hair as best he can with the kid half-hidden under Steve’s arm. “Santa will eat up every cookie you leave out. Promise.”

Then he goes to find Winter.

He’s in the next room over, beside the tree. There’s an ornament in his hands and he’s circling around, scrutinizing the bare spots before he places it.

“Your sweater is appalling,” he says.

“Thanks.” Bucky rolls his eyes. “Why are you decorating without James?”

“He was assisting me. I gave an honest assessment of his cookies, as asked for, and he became irrational and needed Steve’s comfort. At that point, he lost interest in decorating.”

“You think?” Bucky isn’t going to knock Winter’s teeth out, no matter how tempting he makes it. He isn’t.

“I told him I would help him make better cookies later,” Winter says flatly.

“Have you apologized?”

“The cookies were asymmetrical and poorly decorated.” Winter finally sets the ornament on a branch, then selects another. “You’re the one who said this Christmas must be perfect.”

Bucky might settle for grabbing Winter by the throat and shaking him a few times. Maybe. “That’s not what I—hey.” He stares into the box of decorations before circling around the tree. “Where are the ornaments I bought?”

“I placed them on the Commander’s tree,” Winter says. “They did not match the color scheme and they weren’t aesthetically pleasing.”

Bucky’s teeth grind. “You know what? I’m not fighting with you. I’m going down to the lab and Tony and I are gonna drink eggnog until I don’t want to kill you anymore.”

“I want to come!” James shouts from the kitchen.

“Eggnog isn’t for little kids, bug.”

There’s sobbing in response, and Bucky can just make out Steve’s frantic attempts at soothing. “It’s okay, James, don’t cry. We can get eggnog milkshakes, you’re okay...”

“’Tis the season to get wasted,” Bucky mutters to himself as he heads for the elevator. “Fa la la la la la la fuck this.”


End file.
